A Town Called Aberleigh
by OwlWriting
Summary: Just another modern small town AU. This crossover involves much more than just Brave and HTTYD. Tangled, ROTG, Frozen, and possibly more are to be included as the story progresses. T for mild language I guess.
1. Chapter 1

I've promised myself I'd never write fanfiction. Also, that if I did go crazy and write some, I'd never post it. But here I am. Doing this. But this dumb plot has been building all over itself in my head for pretty much a year and it's getting too long and complicated not to write down, plus I'd like to show what I've thought up to friends and whatever. Basically this is just me trying to make a big modern crossover world of all of my favorite characters and their dumb lives together. So yay. Enjoy. If it's possible to enjoy this crap. why is this so embarrassing_  
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><p>She hadn't had the last week to get into the forest, it didn't matter that it looked like rain. Let it rain. Some cold air and alone time is all Merida needed.<p>

Since she didn't have a proper target to use, a tree would have to do. Preferably a mossy one, the arrows didn't sink into hard wood very well and with only a dozen at her disposal, Merida couldn't afford to damage or lose any. She hated that. Even to do the one thing that could help her unwind, she still had to take precautions. Still, the moment the first arrow met its target, she instantly felt better. Every thunk she heard shot one more stressor out of her mind. The first round was just for everyone she'd been burning to punch lately.

Only four rounds, she'd told herself; but turning back towards home as the drizzle grew heavier, Merida slowly traced her finger down on an arrow again. Her fingers had begun to ache and she half expected Angus to whine at her before remembering she might never hear him again.  
>"One more. Just <em>one<em> more."

Merida turned back on her target, adjusted for the longer distance, and heard something wrong at the release. A torn fletching was left in her hand.  
>Shite.<br>Her head whipped back up at the sound of a yelp, in the direction of the arrow.  
>SHITE.<p>

Her thoughts and sprinting legs both ran frantically. It could have been an animal. An animal instead of a person would make her feel just as awful, but at least she might not get into trouble for it. _Please just be a spooked bird!_ She looked frantically around where it seemed to have landed. She _never_ missed. Stupid fletchings, stupid arrow. Where was the stupid arrow? What did the stupid arrow hit?

"This yours?" She turned to see the stupid arrow held out to her by a very unsettled and rain-soaked boy.

"I didn't hit you, did I?"

"Called it a little close, but I'm fine." The front of his brown hair stuck to his forehead, making him look as unimpressive as the damaged arrow he handed back. "But, you know, this part of the forest restricts hunting."

Her father had been dabbling in the city council and had complained to the family about the older and more powerful members, placing restrictions on activities all over the area, including the forests. "I wasn't hunting, just shooting. And from what I've heard, the hunting laws are a bit wishy-washy around here."

He looked at her for a moment before asking "You wouldn't happen to know Fergus Dunbroch, would you?"

"He's my dad."

The boy nodded, not surprised. "Yeah, I thought so."

She already knew she wouldn't like this kid. "Why do you know my father?"

"He works with mine. Sort of. My dad's said he doesn't agree on a lot of the newer regulations on hunting, dragons, all that stuff." It was unnatural how skinny this guy managed to look while wearing a hoodie. "And you all came here from Scotland, right?"

She only answered with a questioning,"Yeah..."  
>He was definitely from her school, always sitting next to the giant blonde guy in Biology (well, the <em>other<em> one. MacGuffin was next to her).

"Your name is something Haddock. Wait, Stoick Haddock... You're Stoick's kid?" Although she hadn't met him, she knew he'd been called a taller, thicker-bearded likeness of her own burly father, and his apparent son looked to her like a young child with too-long limbs. From how he looked back at her, it seemed like he already knew she was thinking it.

"The one and only," he sighed. "And it's Hiccup."

"Well, don't get acting hoity-toity because your daddy's in charge around here. She pointed North-East, where the hunting grounds were, then to where they stood, explaining, "The hunting area's for hunting, this part's for whatever else."

"Actually, the point of a non-hunting area is sort of that nobody uses weapons in it."

The distasteful way he spoke of weapons only got him more onto her nerves. "It's just a sporting bow. And it's not like I let arrows fly willy-nilly. I know how to shoot without hitting anyone."

Hiccup gestured to all of himself, "So...?"

Merida stuck the arrow's end inches from his face and warned, "See this? Fletching tore. I never miss, I never hit anyone. You're fine. Not a big deal."

Scowling at him, she dropped the arrow back into her quiver. He almost immediately turned from flustered to expressionless and spoke dryly back to her.

"Well, sorry if my near-death experience has inconvenienced you. I'll be on my way, carry on with your misdemeanor."  
>She scoffed as she watched him walk off in the direction of town.<p>

Just that fast, a stupid broken arrow and a stupid skinny boy with a stupid name had undone everything the archery had solved, and just when it was too dark to shoot anymore.

"At least I had some reason to be out here," she called back at him, "Were you trying to catch a cold, or maybe practicing a dramatic monologue?"  
>Hiccup halted and took a look over his shoulder at her. His glare sparked her bright smile.<p>

"Oh, sorry I've interrupted you. You carry on too, then. Everyone needs a lonely stroll in the rain every once in a while, don't they?"

By the time she'd finished, Hiccup had disappeared behind some thick brush without seeming to listen. Annoying him wasn't quite satisfying enough to make up for the annoyance he'd caused, but all there was left to do now was return home. Merida counted her arrows and started home, hoping her mother wouldn't fret over any mud on her clothes, but knowing she would.


	2. Chapter 2

Here, have some more junk writing. Yeah, I know it's short. I just started college this week... So there's that...

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><p>Hiccup hadn't arrived in the woods alone. It didn't take long to spot his companion playfully terrorizing a few birds up a tree and coax him to glide back down to the forest floor. Toothless roaming freely never worried him; his dragon was still the most intelligent and loyal of any he'd observed. Most of the time he strayed off, it was just to chase small animals anyway, and he always returned as soon as he was called. The girl he'd just encountered, whom he'd decided to mentally file as "abrasive at best", was very wrong in assuming he was alone. Besides, he didn't see anyone with her.<p>

On the other hand, she had a point in saying he didn't have any real reason to be wandering out in the rain. At least, none other than to find some peace quiet in a _usually_ peaceful and quiet place. In previous years, when he couldn't have listed two friends at a time, the forest somehow just became a safe haven. Maybe it was its desertedness or the way it made one forget themselves, but it held a unique beauty. A year after befriending Toothless, changing the public stance on dragons, gaining friends, and losing a foot, that still hadn't changed.

Today, however, the forest air held flying arrows and the floor became a layer of mud. Crossing the clearing again, he hoped home would be more relaxing.

"I have a cousin?"

"Born just a couple years before you. I didn't expect you'd remember her." Gobber had conveniently left their house after dinner, but before Stoick began cleanup and dropped the news on Hiccup.

"Wait, why didn't I know about this?"

"Well, she went missing. Presumed kidnapped. Turns out now, they were right."

Hiccup gaped, "Are you trying to tell me police found her body chopped up in some lunatic's RV or something?"

"I said I had good news, didn't I? She's alive, healthy, safe. And home. Thomas said she wants to meet the rest of the family." This information was quite jarring. His aunt and uncle never had children, as far as he had known, but a distance had grown between their small families and he hadn't been in good contact with them for years. Still, to suddenly hear differently was too much to take in like this, and every question answered made Hiccup want to ask two more.

"But why didn't you ever tell me any of this? That they had a daughter, or the kidnapping thing? I feel like that should have come up in conversation at some point-when did all of this happen?"

Stoick started, "Hiccup,"

Yet the boy continued, "And Tom and Prim just... Lost a kid? And that's it? Did we stop seeing them because of _that_?"

"Now, hold on-"

"You're not going to actually answer any of this, are you?"

"Hiccup!" Stoick's unintentionally booming voice finally silenced him. "Just stop. For a second. I know you're confused. And no, there wasn't exactly a golden opportunity to bring up a family member we've all assumed was dead for the last decade. It's not easy to talk about people you'll never see again."

For once in the conversation, Hiccup stopped trying to interject. After an understood silence, he finally mumbled back, "I know."

Stoick sighed and said "I'm sorry, Hiccup. I can tell you more in the morning, if you'd like."

Toothless wandered into the nook to nudge his face into Hiccup's hand. He murmured, "Sure," petting black scales and getting up from his seat.

Following Toothless back out of the room, he retrieved the backpack he'd left by the front door. Once seeing that Stoick had turned back into the kitchen, he searched through the lowest bookshelf and silently collected an old photo album before heading back to his own room.

He was sure the album hadn't been opened in years for a number of reasons, some of which being:

1. Neither he nor Stoick were especially interested in reviewing younger versions of themselves.  
>2. It had been crammed besides dozens of other equally as uninteresting books: tattered dictionaries, outdated manuals...<br>3. The album had chiefly been started, maintained, and regarded as belonging to his mother.

The way the spine cracked when he opened it on his desk all but confirmed his guess that nobody else had done so since she last closed it. Although at sixteen he still didn't care much for how he looked, he was immediately very certain he _did not_ like his baby pictures. However, if he weren't self-conscious about it, the way his wide eyes looked absolutely terrified nearly all of the time was a bit amusing.

A few pages in, he found what he was looking for. A photo showed a small blonde girl, looking to be about two years old, smiling at his infant self. Despite him being alarmingly frail and on a breathing tube, she was beaming with excitement. Toothless cooed, leaning in to sniff the pages.

"So, Rapunzel, was it? Hiding in plain sight, all this time."


	3. Chapter 3

Woah I didn't even realize I didn't write for two weeks. Well, that happened. These also keep getting shorter, so I don't know what's wrong with me.

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><p>Angry, laying on her bed, Mer wished badly that it was the gangly idiot at the other end of the rubber band gun. And also that it was a real gun, or perhaps a flamethrower. Her brothers' toy wasn't much of a stress-reliever.<p>

"You shouldn't shoot in the house." Elinor appeared in her doorway. Mer shot a stinging look at her mother and dropped her arm down.

"Where else am I going to shoot? Can't do it outside the house, I'd be burned at the stake."

Elinor crossed her arms and scoffed, "You should be thankful to not be in trouble."

"Oh, I'm _not_ in trouble?" That wasn't true, they both knew it. "I'll say thanks when I have my bow back."

"You can't learn what's right without consequence."

All of their arguing was growing bothersome, but still she challenged, "Tell me what I did wrong, then!"

"You _cannot_ be reckless here. Did it ever once cross your mind that one slip of the hand could have killed someone?" That warning should have sounded worse, but had a concerning bit of intrigue folded into it now.

"I didn't even know anyone was there! When have I ever tried hurting someone?"

"Settle. Down. I never accused you-"

"He did." Merida's voice was low, but firm. She turned away, thinking Elinor would reprimand her for the interruption, but she responded calmly.

"Do you know why he would tell his father you shot at him?"

"Because he's a horrid, whiny, scunner, like every kid from here." Merida grumbled.

With shut eyes, Elinor shook her head and groaned, "I pray your brothers don't hear half of you say, they'll learn to copy. We all have enough to get used to here. Just give this a chance, would you?"

There was too much to say, too many more reasons to not 'give this a chance' than Merida could even start on.  
>"It's not fair."<p>

She'd said it countless times before, during, and after their move. By now, her mother had heard it enough. She left the room with an impatient response, "Merida, it's not the end of the world."

Merida, in reply, threw the door shut behind her and could picture the wince Elinor made at the slam. Then, falling back onto the bed, buried her face into the pillow, then her fingers in like claws. It felt like her blood had gone past boiled and had burnt. There wasn't even any use being angry anymore, and she knew it, but there was no stopping it. So she just stayed like that, for a long time, deciding to wait for morning. Looking out the window only to see that the green hills had been replaced with the mildewy siding of the next house over ruined the entire day every time she awoke. _Can't wait._

Sometimes, when there was enough silence, it didn't seem so bad. She really was grateful that the guys were here too. That way she at least had three familiar people at school to talk to, and without American accents. Even a few others from the town were decent. So, maybe it wasn't entirely fair to say everyone here was awful. But if her parents didn't have to be fair, neither did she. And she wasn't planning on giving chances to people that didn't give her any, either.

At least now, she had a new target to hit.


	4. Chapter 4

I'm feeling pretty good about this now. Thank you for the favorites and reviews, although I only just started replying to them because I'm a buttnugget. I'm trying to write longer chapters and write more often now. We'll see how that turns out. For now, have a long-ass chapter that I probably didn't fully proofread.

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><p>Lunch break was the fourth time, <em>at least<em>, that Monday that he'd accidentally met eyes with clearly irritated Merida in passing time. How could it be possible to have that bad luck? Considering past events, pretending to not have seen her while proceeding to the usual spot outside the hall doors seemed like the best choice. Astrid, the twins, and Snotlout were already there, along with Fishlegs, who was still engrossed in his reading. He missed walking to school with them, and none of them shared morning classes with him, making it the first time he'd seen them since Friday. Quite a bit had gone on since then.

"Someone finally made it to school," Astrid teased.

"I've been here since first period." To be more accurate, "... Halfway through first period."

"And knowing you-"

"I was working on something this weekend."

"Oh boy," Fishlegs whispered over the small draconology handbook.

They always expected him to be up to something crazy. Justified, with what happened the last year. "Just research. You wouldn't believe what my dad dropped on me Friday night."

"Frying pan?" Everyone stopped to look at Tuff with confused expressions. "Just a guess. And it happens." Ruff nodded to him vacantly.

Hiccup slowly hook his head. "Not literally, I mean he had crazy news."

Snotlout chimed in, a bit too cheerily asking, "Are you adopted?"

Hiccup reluctantly answered the second interruption, "No, but it does have to do with family."

"Something about your mom?" Fishlegs offered.

"Can we all stop with the guessing game? They're only getting worse."

Astrid urged, "Just tell us, then."

"Alright. So... My aunt and uncle apparently had a daughter."

The table went silent again until Snotlout charmingly broke it. "So some old people had a baby, who gives a rat's ass?"

"Eighteen years ago. I had a cousin my entire life and didn't even know. Well, I guess I knew her, before she was kidnapped." The silence devolved into unamused stares. It took a moment to realize what he just said, paired with its delivery, sounded like a pitch for a bad ABC Family show. "No, I'm not joking, I found pictures of her. Some of the old reports after she went missing... The timing works, everything checks out, she's for real."

Half of them were snickering, but Astrid played along, "And she's been gone how long?"

Hiccup shrugged, "About fourteen years... Just enough that I wouldn't remember, of course." Oh, this was sounding so fake. He hardly believed Stoick when they discussed it, how could any of it make sense to them?

"What whackjob hides a stolen kid for fourteen years?" Snotlout asked. "Did he keep her locked in the basement with a salt lick and a bucket? Or were the cops just lazy?"

"Being used by a witch for her health-restoring power, no, she didn't get out much." The more he thought of her, the worse he felt. This was all so messed up. "She was manipulated for her entire childhood."

Snotlout added, "Lots of people go missing around here. All those people in the lake, that guy Lars, Hiccup's mom..."

Astrid lightly smacked Snotlout's arm. He still didn't think to not bring it up, though Hiccup was used to it at this point. She looked away and shook her head. "There's something seriously wrong with this town." Nobody could argue with it. As innocent or even quaint as Aberleigh appeared to anyone outside of its limits, nobody living within them ever seemed to get a rest.

Fishlegs fidgeted in concern. "So... Why do we live in it?"

Watching the twins singe their arm hair with a lighter (yeah, that was definitely _not _allowed on campus) and laugh at the smoke, Hiccup answered "Because we're crazy."

Turning back to Hiccup, Astrid said, "It's weird that your dad wouldn't tell you something like that, though."

"If you haven't noticed yet, my entire life is weird." He glanced up to see Merida still staring violently. He hushed to the group, "On that note, does anybody know what the deal with Merida is?"

Fishlegs asked, "Who?"

"Moved from Scotland, big red hair... Kind of behind you." Immediately Hiccup cringed and muttered "No, don't all look!" as Snotlout, the twins, and Fishlegs did so. Looking away, he could still feel her eyes burning holes in himself.

They turned back, Snotlout shrugging. "Eh... like a Five, but still way out of your league."

"Definitely not what I was asking about. She's just been glaring at me all day. What is that?"

"She's pissed. Not at you, just in general," Astrid clarified, "but wouldn't you be if you had to move here?" She didn't know the half of it, he knew it was more personal than that.

"She almost shot me the other day, in the section of the forest she shouldn't even have a bow, and told me I was overreacting about the arrow that hit a tree - I swear - less than a yard in front of my face." Knowing he wasn't finished, Astrid smiled and waited.

"It's pretty clear she really doesn't like me, and I think..." He looked again, only to see she'd walked away. "I think she's planning to kill me."

Astrid only laughed quiety. "You can calm down. Unless you deliberately did something to get on her nerves, you're probably in the clear."

"I think telling her who my dad is was enough to get her mad."

"So maybe she's a little hot-headed. She isn't stupid enough to pick fights in the first month of school for no reason."

Astrid was never particularly rude to him before they became friends, but it was impossible for her to stand up like this for a stranger. "Do you know her?"

"I've talked to her once or twice." She gestured to herself and Snotlout, "We all have P.E. together."

Snotlout gained an enlightened look. "She's the one with the high socks! Nevermind, Seven. At least with the hair up."

Astrid rolled her eyes away from him grumbling, "We really don't need your commentary, you know." Only at that moment did Hiccup finally notice Astrid's Chemistry book. He then realized they shared that class and, yes, he should have had his with him too.

"Hang on," he said as he stood back up, "I think I forgot my book in my locker again."

Wryly smiling, Astrid mocked, "The genius that captured and tamed the most rare and mysterious of dragons... Forgetting the same book for three weeks straight."

"At least I'm _remembering_ I forgot it," he joked back, and reentered the hallway.

He was glad that this year he could open a top locker with no problem. Previous years hadn't been as easy. In the seventh grade it was either carrying all of his books all day, or stepping on top of them to be able to read the numbers on the lock. After everything Snotlout said about the latter, he mostly stuck to the former. He thought he was alone in the hall until hearing a voice from the other side of the locker door, causing him to jump a bit.

"So a strayed arrow is a murder attempt to you, is it?" Closing the door revealed Merida with a look of murder in her eyes.

He took a half step away and carefully inquired, "Uh... What do you mean?"

"I told you it was an accident," her words biting as she stepped closer, "you know it was."

All he knew was that this was escalating quickly and couldn't end well. "I... don't know what you're referring-"

"Why did my father hear from yours that I attacked you?" The rise of her voice, along with a quick shove to his left shoulder, backed him up against the wall. She wasn't any larger than him, but undoubtedly more threatening.

"I never told him that." Hiccup tried his best to keep his voice from shaking. His voice shouldn't shake at this.

"Really."

"All I said to him was that you shot near me, not on purpose." Why? _Why_ did he tell him that in the first place?

Incredulous, she demanded, "Tell me who made up the rest, then."

"Look, it's no secret our dads don't get along. Don't you think it's possible they stretched the story a bit? Mine getting protective, yours getting offended, easy mistake."

Her face was softening. Thank goodness, the snarl was disappearing. He added, "I don't want any trouble. I'm assuming, uh, hoping you don't either. What do you say we drop this, just stay out of each others' ways?"

She stared for a second, still half menacingly, before giving him that lovely word, "Fine." Then, grabbed a stack of books from the floor and was off.

Good God, it was like watching a hurricane turn into a rainbow.

Suddenly, she spun back around. "But I'll make this clear to you: I don't need any chicken-legged louts OR their fathers spreading lies about me."

"Well, sorry. Won't happen again." Despite the risky sarcasm in his tone, he found himself pathetically apologizing again to someone that had scared him half to death twice.

At least she was gone now. And actually, quite unnatural in how quickly she was gone. The entire encounter felt closer to a surprise Pokemon trainer battle than how two normal humans would communicate at school. That would be granting, of course, that either of them were anything close to normal. Hating to admit it, even to himself, Hiccup was just slightly terrified of her. It seemed she liked it that way.

Chicken-legged lout. Somehow, he had never heard that one before.


	5. Chapter 5

*Drops off a really short and bad chapter over a month after last update like nothing happened* _I'm sorryyyyyyy I'm in colleeeeeeege_

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><p>She took her hair out of the scrunchie, shook it back to its usual shape, and sighed, "Tuesdays suck."<p>

Astrid knelt beside her and opened her own locker. "At least we're past Monday."

Everyone seemed to always say Mondays were the worst, but Merida couldn't agree less. "On Mondays I've gotten two days to forget this place. By Tuesday I remember how much I hate it, but have to come back again."

"Well, only six hours left today, then we're almost halfway through our third week of a nine month school year." She started untying her tennis shoes and added, "Oh, and heads up: I think Snotlout likes your socks. Maybe ditch them. He gets creepy."

Well, the idiot had been trying to talk to her. She snatched her jeans from the locker."Whatever. If he tries talking to me, he'll regret it."

Astrid smiled, said "Glad you're learning", and pulled her shirt off. Merida had seen her do it close to ten times now, but it still felt a bit weird to be surrounded by a dozen girls carelessly stripping to their underwear (some of them changing _bras_) when she had never needed to change around others her age before. It's why she wore only baggy shirts now, and kept them on for every other class. Not out of embarrassment, just unfamiliarity. Like every other day, she swapped her shorts for the jeans as quickly as possible, then saw Astrid was wearing a blue dress.

Lacing her shoes up again, Merida asked "Why do you dress girly like that?"

Astrid looked at her own outfit, asking "Why not?"

"Well, you aren't that girly."

"I'm not?"

"In a good way. I don't like it when girls are whiny and prissy. It's why I don't get along with them."

"You do know most girls aren't actually like that, right?"

Her tone was beginning to sound a bit less friendly, so Merida stood and replied a bit more quietly, "Well, I-guess I didn't know a lot of girls. I'm usually just around my brothers. And now Kevin and Callum."

"I thought you were friends with Steven too." Ugh, Macintosh... The two started for the hallway.

"No, he just annoys me. So cocky. The others have good enough sense to not try flirting."

Astrid sighed, "That's the annoying part of being friends with guys. You know Hiccup, imagine /him/ flirting with you." Merida shuddered for a second, trying /not/ to imagine that.

Astrid must have seen her cringing face. "Not anymore. He knows we're only friends now."

"Were you not always _just_ friends?"

"We just kissed a couple times last year, that's all."

"Ugh, why?" She blurted in recoil. "I mean, he's just so..."

Astrid nodded understandingly."I know, he's a little weird. But he's nice once you get to know him." Right. Even if she decided he wasn't so bad after all, she couldn't see why Astrid would kiss him, much less admit it. With a small wave, Astrid disappeared down on of the crowded halls.

Class after boring class, her thoughts kept turning in circles. It was such a small thing, but strange. Everyone seemed to know and like him, and she couldn't even tell why. Stupid... Arrow... Forest... Skinny idiot... Arrow-

An ending bell rung her out of a trance. When looking at her notebook to see what class she'd ignored so intensely, she found it covered in scribblings so deep in the pages they wrinkled and tore. Every day, she was just getting angrier. Hopefully she'd find a way to not kill everyone around her before at least the semester ended.


End file.
